JUNE EVENT: CAMP

[sailmods]

early on June 10th, Friday's morning announcements end with a request for everyone going on the latest excursion to meet her in the atrium. she seems in noticeably better spirits than she had been last time, and she leads them cheerfully to the tender. once they are all aboard, and the door is securely shut, the interior fills with gas, and, perhaps, their last thought before they slip into unconsciousness is "oh shit, not again."

passengers wake up on a rickety old school bus, driving down a dirt road surrounded by woods. what is it that they notice first? that, no matter what they were wearing before, they are now wearing a camp t-shirt and legitimately horrifyingly short shorts? the overstuffed backpack between their knees? the words "take one down and pass it around" dying on their lips? the fact that Friday is absolutely driving the bus?

or, maybe the fact that it's already slowing down, pulling up in front of a massive wooden sign, saying:

 

 

 

 

 

CAMP AION

when they get out of the bus, Friday is the one to divide them up into their cabin groups, and she is the one to give the counselors their very official-looking clipboards and whistles. she explains that they are in charge, and that she will be back to pick them up in a week, and... very little else. she responds to nothing outside of whatever is on her unseen little script, and she gets back on the bus shortly after, leaving them there.

welcome to camp. let's make some summer memories!

Comments

Feathers and glue and ropes, oh my

[touchofcashmere]

I. Arts and Crafts
Stede stands just outside of the Arts and Crafts building wearing a necklace made of plastic beads and feathers. Displayed in front of him are a poorly made made toy cabin made of popsicle sticks and glue, a handshaped turkey with a googly eye making it look petrified and rather delicate looking tissue paper roses.

When someone walks close, he perks up, or may even use his whistle to draw attention.

"Hello! Good afternoon! Can I interest you in some artistic expression? Beat your anxiety with a little art variety! I can even show you how to make paper flowers! What do you say?"


II. Rope Course

You may be wandering by the rope course and hear a plaintive voice call down:

"I don't suppose you have a ladder?" Stede is at the upper most part of the rope course, clinging for dear life and looking-- less than pleased. "I'm afraid I've discovered a bit of acrophobia... just a touch." He could climb up alright, barely, but the ground seems-- so far away.

II

[asafecrackingdevice]

Parker looks up at the voice, takes in the situation for a long moment, and curses whoever failed to provide safety gear under her breath

"There's no ladders, but I'll get you down" she calls out, trying to remember anything about how to you were supposed to calm someone down. Names. People like to hear their name, right? "I'm Parker, what's your name?"

[touchofcashmere]

"I'm...Stede..." It's funny tha the hasn't had this problem before, but there's something about being this high up--on his own-- with hard ground underneath-- It's such a long way to fall.

"This isn't a trap, is it? You're not going to cut the rope away or try to stab me or shoot me or anything, right?"

[asafecrackingdevice]

"No traps, don't worry" she holds her hands up to show she's unarmed and puts on as warm a smile as she can, she's pretty sure smiling is supposed to help, "I'll be there in a minute"

She starts climbing, taking it slower than she normally would so she can map out the best route down for someone less experienced than her as she goes

"Can you do something for me, Stede? I want you take a deep breath, okay" she takes a long breath herself as demonstration, "1. 2. 3. 4. Now hold it. 2. 3. 4. And now let it out slowly"

[touchofcashmere]

He watches her climb.

"You're quite good." Though the getting up is the easy part. It's the getting down. Gosh, this is high. He is not quite sure about the breathing thing, if only because he's been told to do something like this before and it hasn't gone well.

"This isn't some sort of meditation thing, is it?"

[asafecrackingdevice]

"I guess, but it's not about that. You don't need to find some inner peace or reach a higher plane or whatever all that mindfulness stuff is, that's not useful" she reaches the top, puts a hand on his shoulder, "It's about focus, control. If you're panicked you don't think right, and that puts everyone in danger. So slow down, start with something small that you can control, like breathing, and once you've got that down you can work on what needs to be done"

[touchofcashmere]

"Right. Okay. Breathing." He does breathe, in and out, trying to act like he's not petrified of falling. He's not really. He sort of is. Any pirate worth anything wouldn't be.

"It's too bad this thing doesn't come equipped with an elevator." He chuckles a bit nervously. "Have you been in that thing yet? It's incredible."

i

[latersgators]

"Um--" Actually Steven was just passing by and on his way elsewhere but he has a really hard time saying no and-- dear god is that a chicken? Ugh. That's terrifying. The tissue rose though catches his attention and his breath catches in his throat. He reaches over but his hand hesitates in mid-air before he looks up at the blond gentleman with a broad smile. He doesn't want to lose a hand for touching things willy-nilly.

"I'd-- love to. Learn to make that, sir."

[touchofcashmere]

"You're welcome to hold it. Here." He plucks up the tissue rose and holds it out. "It's very easy to make. If I can do it anyone can." He's not a very artsy person. Most of this was done just to encourage others. But these flowers are one of the only nice things from his adolescence he can look back on with some fondness.

[latersgators]

Even from their short interaction it's quite obvious that the blushing and smiling idiot is quite different in demeanour from his face twin that Stede met yesterday.

Steven takes the rose like the first dinner date courtship attempt, twirling the rose between his fingers and holding it closer to his chest. He's never been given flowers before even though he's attempted to give them to others on numerous occasions. Of course he's not planning on keeping it, but he'll cherish feeling that flutter in his chest for a longer time to come.

"It's very beautiful." He loves how delicate it looks. Gingerly he puts it down and wanders a little closer.

"Where do I start?"

[touchofcashmere]

To be honest he only vaguely recognizes him, but that doesn't mean much on this ship.

"Well! Let's move to another table, shall we?" and he does have another set up with various art supplies so he can keep an eye on the first.

"I have a few colors to choose from so take your pick." And he plops a bin of tissue paper on the table. "What's your name, by the way? You can call me Stede."

[latersgators]

Steven tips his head and looks over the various options before he picks out a light shade of blue. He was drawn to the darker shade but it might be hard seeing what he's doing. For the first attempt he should try and make it easier for himself.

"Alright. I think I'll use this." He plucks a bit of tissue up and puts it in front of him.

"Stede? I'm Steven. Cabin 135, if... we ever make it back." He tries not to sound too pessimistic as he extends a hand and offers an accompanying tight-lipped smile.

[touchofcashmere]

"Good choice." He shakes the man's hand in a friendly way. "Now I'll go slowly once first so you can see what I do, then we'll go through it together." And he starts to carefully fold the base of the rose.

"We'll make it back, Steven. I don't see why not. The last time this happened everyone made it back." Though as usual thoughts of that leave him a little unsettled. "The question is, will we be in one piece."

Arts and Crafts

[treadwater]

"I was actually hoping to make friendship bracelets. It's almost ironic, I was talking about them with someone on the ship before this excursion, and now I want to give a few out to people."

Undine's perfectly content dressed like a camper and acting like a kid for the first time in years. She's glad to let Stede play Reasonable Adult, and she'll play Innocent Child and everything will be okay, in this moment.

[touchofcashmere]

"Friendship Bracelets..." He blinks. "Well I can't say I've heard of them, but if you want we can go see if there are supplies back in the building and you can show me a thing or two if you like."

[treadwater]

"Sure, I'll show you how to make them! I know all the patterns, from simple braids to candy-stripe to chevrons, even more complex styles like finger-weaving and kumihimo braids over a disk." She starts looking for string, yarn or embroidery floss, eventually unearthing a tackle box with floss in ALL THE COLORS and scissors.

"How complicated do you want to make yours? Four or five colors is usually a good place to start. And it's best if you can make them colors that whoever you're giving the bracelet to will like."

[touchofcashmere]

"Uh... well!" That's a lot of information to take in. He's surprised and impressed at how well she managed to find it, and how quickly. It generally takes him forever to find anything.

"I'll leave that decision up to you. But I'm really just making to learn." He can't imagine seeing himself give a friendship bracelet to anyone. He is, alas, not a young girl nor a young woman who can get away with that sort of thing.

[treadwater]

"Really? You don't have anyone who's your friend? That's awful!"

She gives him an uncertain look, even as she's beginning to sort through the colors she needs for what she's going to make Darcy. And Palamedes. And Watson. And maybe even the nice guy who was braiding clothing on the deck that one day.

[touchofcashmere]

"It's not that. Those are just not the kind of gifts I'd give."

He does need to figure out some sort of gift for John at some point but he's still undecided in giving the jade to Ed. He might not even like it. It might be too much.

"But I'm happy to learn to teach others."

I

[prodigalmess]

Stede is an interesting man to Malcolm. A gentleman pirate. Who would have heard of such a thing? But, from what he can read of the man, he seems to be good at heart. He likes being in charge of things and helping people. Kind of a mix between a salesman and a social worker. The two of them got off on the wrong foot, but Malcolm's hoping to change that. He and his pirate crew might be the type of allies that he needs on the ship.

Malcolm stops when called to and looks over at Stede's array of crafts. He's still on high alert, the gun tucked into the back of his shorts. Part of him says that he doesn't have time for this, but he agrees that it might help him chill out a little bit. Plus, a goodwill gesture can't hurt.

"Sure," Malcolm replies with a shrug. "It's been a while since I've done anything like that."

[touchofcashmere]

Well he still doesn't trust the man, but that's just through past experience. Still, Stede is not here for himself but to help others through this potentially brutal time and so he will smile and gesture.

"Of course. What would you like to make?"

[prodigalmess]

He thinks for a moment, looking over the arts and crafts supplies. "Why don't you show me how to make one of those paper flowers?" Maybe he can give it to Ava. Or he'll just chicken out and won't.

Malcolm sits down at one of the picnic benches, adjusting his ridiculous shorts to accommodate the gun in the back of them. He wishes he had a holster here.

"I'm glad you recovered," Malcolm says. "Are you feeling better?"

[touchofcashmere]

"Ah... yes, well..." He's still not sure what happened back then, but doesn't want to think about it. It doesn't stop him paling a bit as he takes up the seat opposite.

"A lot better, thank you." He takes out a sheaf of colored papers. Marvelous things really.

"Take your pick." A smile. "Are you making this for someone special? Or just for something fun to do."

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm can't really blame him for not wanting to talk about it. He's sure that being unconscious wasn't any kind of a good time.

After choosing a light blue piece of paper, he shrugs. "Not sure yet. Maybe?" Would Ava want a paper flower from him? Possibly?

Malcolm glances up at Stede. "Have you heard of origami?" he asks.

[touchofcashmere]

"Who might you be making it for?" Call him curious. "Just hypothetically." And as for the other. "I haven't. But it sounds delicious."